Social Bookmarking – Plaxo

Over 40 million people trust Plaxo to store their address book in the cloud. At least that’s how it started out. Today, Plaxo offers the same address book features plus adds new social networking features that are very different than Facebook, MySpace and others because it isn’t a place where you simply add a bunch of people you don’t know.

Benefits of using Plaxo


Plaxo offers a new way to network with your friends. The approach is different than other sites because it isn’t a place where you see how many online friends you can collect. It allows you to connect with your real friends, co-workers and family.

Plaxo has something called Pulse that makes all this possible. It allows you to better see what everyone is creating and sharing online–things like blogs, pictures, videos, etc. They tout the fact that they have one of the strongest privacy policies out there and make sure that your personal information doesn’t get into the wrong hands.

Plaxo is part of Comcast

Comcast Interactive Media now owns Plaxo and this will allow them to offer more connectivity through the Internet and tv based connections. They intend to make Plaxo the most unified social networking site available.

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Social Bookmarking – Sphinn

Sphinn is a concept site that specializes in discussing Internet marketing and news. One of the major advantages of using and being on this site is that it allows you to take part in discussions and network with similar people in your specific field.

How can Sphinn help my site?


If you’re running a blog, Sphinn can give you an advantage over other site owners. Just like most of the social networking site I’m covering in this section, you are able to submit articles and news related to your topic of choice. Naturally, these articles link back to your own website where you are currently marketing yourself or your products.

  • Publish original articles – When you publish original content, submit it to Sphinn so you can start building web traffic that you need for your site. The more original and fresh your content is, the better it’ll rank.
  • Discuss – As a member of Sphinn, you can jump into a conversation about any item on the site. This creates a very interactive experience.
  • Network – Meet other users in the same industry as you and talk about topics that are of interest. You can also add these people to your contacts list.

Is Sphinn for you?

As mentioned above, this site is only for content related to Internet marketing, SEO and making money online. If your site does not fall into one of these categories, Sphinn will not be able to help you out.

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Social Bookmarking – MySpace

When you think of MySpace, you probably don’t think much about social bookmarking, but then again, you probably don’t think of that with Facebook either. However, besides all the fun and games you can have on MySpace while connecting with all your friends, you can also use it as a platform to help promote your website and/or blog posts.

Another good thing about MySpace is the relative ease of buying advertising space on the site. It’s inexpensive and it can still jumpstart a flow of traffic to your site given the millions of users still on it.

Using MySpace as a promotional tool

Back when MySpace was huge, it was pretty much the only social networking platform of its time and you probably saw all sorts of things being promoted on it such as movies, companies, celebrities, news, etc. I can remember not too long ago, just about every single new movie coming out had its own MySpace page.

The reason for this was because it works. Here you have a site with hundreds of millions of users all interacting with each other which opens up the flood gates for potential customers. Here are some ways you can maximize your earnings on MySpace:

  • Find as many friends as you can. There’s no shame in adding people you don’t know! If you’re promoting something on the Internet, you’re going to run into a LOT of people you don’t know. You might as well add them to your list.
  • Buy advertising space. Just like you would do with Google AdWords, you want to maximize your presence as much as possible. MySpace ads work the same way by offering your ad to a targeted audience that is already interested in the things you’re selling.
  • Post blogs. Use the MySpace blog section to post new pages about current offers you have or new products you’re selling. Everyone on your friends list can see these.

My two cents

I’m not going to tell you that you need to have a profile page at every social networking site you can find, but I will say that you should stick with one and blow it up. Make the most of whatever site or sites you settle with and don’t let up. It might take time to get a huge list of friends, but it will pay off in the end.

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Social Bookmarking – Digg

Digg is a very popular site that brings together the top stories in just about every subject matter you can think of. It also allows people to recommend websites, links, videos, pictures, etc. The service accomplishes this by using a recommendation tool called a “digg”.

Websites and blogs all over the Internet have the ability to include a button or link somewhere in their written text that allows a user who likes what they see to digg the site simply by clicking on the link. This click then takes the user over to their Digg.com account and allows them to post the content on Digg.com for everyone to see and search through.

Digg Advantages

As a web publisher, Digg gives you the ability to allow others to rank your content. The more people dig your stuff, the more it’s seen. This gives you the opportunity to promote yourself even more. Here’s how you can use Digg to promote your site:

  • Publish original content – When your content is original, it’s more likely to be included in the directory because when Digg sorts data, it checks to see if there is similar content already on the site before including any new submissions.
  • Digg buttons – Use a button that links to your Digg account on your site so users can cast a Digg vote right from your site. If you’re using WordPress, you’re already at a slight advantage because there are plenty of plugins that support Digg!
  • Digg others – Your account can be viewed by every other member and if you create a name for yourself by consistently recommending quality resources, people will view your profile page. This can cause more people to see your own content and drive traffic to your site.

My two cents

Digg is just one of many similar services out there that can maximize your content’s reach. If I were you, I’d get signed up with all of these services and start plastering your content everywhere you get a chance.

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